Apparatus for arranging articles



March 11, 1930. F. F. JONKEL ETAL. 1,750,310

APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING ARTICLES Original Filed June 16. 1926 Nll HI Patented Mar. 11, 1 9

v UN -TE TATEJ -ir-A ENT FRANK FERDINAND JONKEL, or onroa'eo, AND nomaR WALLDO' LARsom oR owNnRs eRo'vE, ILLINOIS, ASSIiIGNORS TO wEsTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, NcoRPoRAT D,

OF IN'IIEJF YORK',--'N. Y-,", A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK I a I'ARA'rUs roR ARRANGING ARTICLES- Appl ication filed il'une 16, 1926, Serial-N 0. 116,490. Renewed'November 8,1929

This invention relates to apparatus for ar-.

-22 of Fig. 1; r

ranging articles, and more particularly to apparatusfor arranging articles in predeterminedpositions for assembling purposes.

Where small parts are to be assembled in predetermined positions, "it hasheretofore been the practice in some instances fora ,worker to manuallyselect thev parts from an indiscriminately arranged supply 7 thereof,- and then position the parts so selected in predetermined properly arranged positions forassembling; One instance ofthis practice may be found inthe manufactureof heat shell of certain typesof these-coils comprises coils, such as are extensivelyusedin telephone systems for protectingthe circuitsandgapparatus from abnormal currents. The outer a rubber sleeve having a metal cap secured at apparatus for effectively and 'efii'ciently' are one end thereof. Whenx assembling these shells, it has heretofore been the practice for a worker to. manually'select a metalcap from an indiscriminately arranged supply thereof and then properly'position itvfor assembling with a companion sleeve portion,

The principal object of the present inven--- tion'is to provide a'simplified and improved ranging and'magazining article's. In. accordance with the general: features of the invention, there is provided in one emhodimentthereof a rotatable member having right and left hand spiral grooves'formed in separate halves-of' its peripheral surface and, terminating in a common'slot or peri'ph-- oral groove formed i'n -the member substantially. midway between. its ends, the latter groove being aligned with a magazine designed to receive articles arranged. in proper predetermined positions. stanti'ally enclosing the rotatable member is designed to-hold a'supply of promiscuously,

arrangedarticles in contact with the peripheral surface of the member.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following-detail description, reference being had 'to the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is aplan view, partly broken away. of an apparatus embodying the features of the invention;

Htion,the articles 20 which are to bearranged A housing sub-' -Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken online 3-.-3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective View of 1 an article adapted to 'bearranged and mag! azinedin predetermined positio-nby ,the improved apparatus. I Referring now "to thedrawing in detail it i,

wherein like referenceicharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 indicates, generally,

member having right and left hand spiral a..h0rizontally disposed cylindrical screw grooves 11 and 12, respectively, formed on opposite halves. of its outer .surface- The ad jacent ends of the grooves 11 and 12 terminate in a common slot or semi-circular groove. 13-

tions of which form opposite sidewalls of a V hopper 17 having front and rear walls 18 and 19, respectively, and designed to, hold a sup- 7 ply of promiscuously arrangedarticles 20 in contact with the screw member 10. Secured at one end of the screw member 10 a gear 24 meshing with a gear 25 secured to a shaft 26 through which the screw member is driven in the direction indicated by the; arrow (Fig. 3) by any suitable source of power :(not' shown); j 1 p In the present embodiment of the invenw in predetermined positions comprise a circularcap portion 21. and aninte'gral cylindrical upset reduced portion 22' (Fig. 4,). The

spiral grooves ll and 12 and the semi-circular groove 13 are designedto accommodate the reduced portions 22 of the articles. Disposed in vertical alignment with the groove 13 is amagazine comprising a pair of inverted substantially L-shaped members 28 and 29 secured to a downwardly projecting portion 30 of the front wall 18 of the hopper and spaced therefrom by a plurality of spacing washers 31 so as to accommodate therebetween the portions 21 of the articleswhen.

properly positioned'as indicatedin Fig. 3.

Vertical portions 32 and 33 of the members 28 and 29, respectively, are parallel to and spaced from each other to form a vertical slot 34 (Fig. 2) which is in alignment with the groove 13 and of such width as to loosely accommodate the reduced portions 22 of the articles.

Horizontal portions 36 and 37 of the members 28 and 29, respectively, are preferably positioned so that the upward edges thereof are disposed slightly" below the longitudinal axis of the screw member 10 and suitably spaced from the outer surface of the screw member so as to serve as guide rails for the articles being advanced to the magazine by the spiral grooves 11 and 12. Furthermore, the construction is such that the parts or articles contained in the hopper .17 are prevented from escaping between the screw member 10 and the guide rails 36 and 37. The adjacent ends of the guide rails 36 and 37 slope upwardly towards the slot 34 as indicated at 39 (Fig. 2). This construction prevents any possible jamming when the magazine is full since the articles being advanced along the sloped portions 39 are readily ejected from the grooves in the rotating member 10 upon reaching the magazine slot 3% when this slot is completely loaded.

Referring to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the rear wall 19 of the hopper slopes towards the front wall 18 thereof, the lower edge of the rear wall being substantially in vertical alignment with the axis of the screw member 10. This construction of the hopper confines the articles contained therein between the screw member 10 and the front wall 18 of the hopper.

In the operation of the above described apparatus, a supply of promiscuously arranged articles are deposited in the hopper 17 in contact with the screw member 10, as shown in Fig. 3. The screw member is then rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3. It will be obvious that the articles in contact with the rotating screw member will be agitated due to the spiral grooves 11 and 1 thereof, and that some of the articles will become lodged within these grooves and between the wall 18 and the guide rails 36 and 37, as best shown in Fig. 1. Furthermore, any articles so positioned are advanced along the guide rails 36 and 37 into the peripheral groove 13 from which they drop down the vertical slot 34 of the magazine. When the magazine is completely filled, any additional advancing articles are readily ejected from the grooves 11 and 12 upon reaching the peripheral groove 13 due to the sloped portions 39 of the guide rails, as hereinbefore described.

Although the invention. .is herein illustrated and described as particularly applicable for arranging and advancing smallparts .a hopper containing a supply 0 employed in heat coils, it should be understood that the novel features thereof are capable of other applications within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for arranging articles, a magazine for receiving properly positioned articles, and a member associated with said magazine and having a peripheral groove in alignment therewith, said member having right and left hand spiral grooves terminating in said peripheral groove.

2 In an apparatus for arrangin articles,

promiscuously arranged articles, a magazine associated therewith for receiving proper- 1y positioned articles, and a member. having a peripheral groove in alignment with said magazine, said member having right and left hand, spiral grooves terminatmg in said peripheral groove for guiding properly positioned articles thereto.

3. In an apparatus for arranging articles, a hopper for holding a supply of indiscriminately arranged articles, a magazine associated therewith for recelving and stacking articles in proper predetermined positions, and a rotatable member mounted within said hopper having a substantially semi-circular peripheral groove for guiding properly positioned articles into said magazine, said memher having right and left hand spiral grooves formed on its outer surface for advancing properly positioned article to said peripheral groove.

4. In an apparatus for arranging articles, a screw member having a peripheral way for guiding properly positioned articles and oppositely disposed spiral ways terminating in the peripheral way for properly positioning indiscriminately arranged articles and advancingthem through the peripheral guide- In an apparatus for arranging articles, a magazine for receiving properly positioned articles, a hopper for containing a supply of indiscriminately arranged articles, and a screw member mounted within the hopper having a peripheral groove for guiding properly positioned articles and oppositely disposed spiral ways terminating in the peripheral groove for properly positioning indiscriminately arranged articles and advancing them through the peripheral groove to said magazine.

6. In an apparatus for arranging articles,

a screw member having a peripheral groove for guiding properly positioned articles and right and left hand spiral ways terminating in the peripheral groove for properly positioning indiscriminately arranged articles and advancing them through the peripheral groove, and a magazine communicating with the peripheral groove for receiving properly positioned articles therefrom.

7. In an apparatus for arranging articles,

a hopper for containing a supply of indiscriminately arranged articles, and a screw member rotatably mounted therein having a peripheral way for receiving properly positioned articles and oppositely disposed spiral ways terminating in the peripheral way for properly positioning indiscriminately arranged articles and advancing them through said peripheral ways In witness whereof, we hereunto subscribe our names this 28th day of May A. D., 1926.

FRANK FERDINAND JONKEL. HOMER WALDO LARSON. 

